The world of hacking has changed a lot. While it used to be just a matter of curiosity for people who wanted to see how far they could get by breaking into someone’s computer, it has become a lucrative profession. Today, you could probably call it “an industry”. WordPress is the most popular blogging platform on the web, powering more than 60 million websites. There are two main ways WordPress sites get hacked: through brute force attempts to crack weak passwords, or by uploading malware that can infect your visitors.

It may surprise you to learn that hackers don’t always target the content on your WordPress site. In fact, they may not care at all. In this article, we’ll show you why hackers hack WordPress sites and how they can make money from it.

Why is WordPress targeted by hackers?

Hackers are not some mysterious, unknown entity. They are real people who know how to exploit security vulnerabilities to make money. They target websites to install malware and steal data, and they use social engineering to gain backdoor access to your website. It’s easy for a hacker to hack a WordPress website. By exploiting the vulnerability of the WordPress CMS, a hacker can easily inject a malicious code into your website. Once (s)he successfully injects the malicious code into your website, it will be difficult for you to detect the malicious code.

It’s always hard to accept that your website has been hacked, but it’s even worse when you find out that a hacker is making money off your site. It’s not always easy to tell if you’ve been hacked, and the process of getting your website back up and running can be a headache.

Hackers can make money off of your hacked WordPress site

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such as selling your password to other hackers or even stealing your WordPress site. Hacking into a WordPress site is not an easy process. Hackers have to pass through several floodgates to actually get into the server. Once there, they can do several things. Hackers can upload a backdoor, install a spam script, or use the site as a server for a botnet. The most dangerous thing, however, is that once they have access to the server, they can use it for a variety of purposes.

What’s in it for them?

Some of the most common motives for hacking WordPress sites are:

1: Installing backdoors.
The most common way is to install a backdoor on your server to steal customer data.

2: Defacement.
Defacement is the most popular type of hack. The hacker replaces the website’s home page with a message that usually contains a political or social agenda. The message is often displayed as text on a graphic background, sometimes with the hacker’s logo and website address.

3: Spam/SEO content injection.
This example is a little different from the others because it is not a hack, but the result of a security vulnerability in WordPress. The hacker was able to inject spam content into the website and then use it to make money.

4: Creation of a spam page
Creating a spam page that is designed to look like a legitimate WordPress site. The hacked page is then indexed in search engines and can be seen by millions of people.

5: Creating a PHP mailer
Every day, new WordPress sites are hacked. Every day, these sites are used as spam sites. And every day, these hacked sites are used to send spam emails to random people’s inboxes.

6: Phishing campaigns
One of the most common ways hackers make money is phishing. Phishing involves posing as a legitimate business in order to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, credit card details, or even bank account information.

7: Malicious redirects
Malicious redirects are the most common and easiest type of cyberattack to fix. They are usually scams, but in some cases they are used to take a website offline.

8: Command and control server with a botnet
A command-and-control server is a computer that can be used to remotely control other computers on a network. It is often used as a central hub to control and manage multiple infected computers, commonly referred to as a botnet, simultaneously.

9: Crypto mining
This is a relatively new type of hack that involves placing malware on your website that secretly mines cryptocurrency.

Hackers are trying to make the system unusable

They are able to destroy the important files they don’t want to see. They can take revenge on people who have harmed them, or they just want to show that they are smarter than you. Some of them do hack attacks for the fame and glory, to claim that they are the best at what they do – writing viruses and it gives them a sense of power and control.

Hacking is big business. It is estimated that cybercriminals make as much as $1 billion a year from the theft and sale of credit card data alone. Another $1 billion is made each year from ransomware and other attacks on the Internet. The average annual profit of a hacker is $5,000 per website.

How hackers make money from your hacked website?

– They could get money for their work by receiving payment for their virus
If you look at the malware that is spreading, most of it is designed to steal money from you, not to steal your identity or read your emails.

– They get money for breaking into a system
Since it’s a crime to hack into someone else’s website, many hackers are hired by website owners to find vulnerabilities in their websites and fix them. This means they can get paid for finding vulnerabilities in their own websites.

They can steal your money and your (and the user’s) personal information (which they can resell)
If you look at the malware that spreads, most of it is designed to steal money from you, not to steal your identity or read your emails.

– They can use the destroyed files to extort money from their victim
The hackers could have had access to your WordPress site for quite a while before you even noticed. Without a password on the server, they could have been looting the data on your site for years before you even noticed. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself in a situation where you’re forced to pay a ransom to hackers to get your personal information back.

Conclusion

Protect your website. Security measures are important, but additional WordPress security features should be implemented. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for website developers. As a result, the platform attracts many hackers. Website owners need to take responsibility for protecting their WordPress sites from viruses.

To protect yourself from viruses, you should implement basic security measures and additional WordPress security features that will keep your site safe.

The financial impact of a hacking attack can be huge, and the cost of your website being hacked can be even higher. Don’t let to be too late.

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Article by Ivica Delic
founder of FreelancersTools,
exclusively for Virusdie.

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